Nadav and Avihu

(translated from a Hebrew summary of Likkutei Sichos, Volume 32, Acharei 1)¹

"God spoke to Moses after the demise of the two sons of Aaron, when they drew close to God’s presence and passed on”. ²

From the commentary “Ohr HaChaim” on the verse:

God explained to Moses that they [Nadav and Avihu] passed on by coming close to God. What’s meant is that in a state of holy love they drew close to the presence of the supreme light. This is how they passed on. (This is the mystery of the “divine kiss” by which the saintly pass on.) ...The scripture hints at the amazing love the saintly possess that even when they sense they’re passing on, they don’t hold back from drawing close to the cleaving, which is pleasant, savory, endearing, loving, kissing and sweet; until their souls take leave in ecstacy.

How do the Ohr HaChaim’s words reconcile with the explicit message of the verse, “...they presented an alien flame before God, one which was not commanded of them”?³

The clarification depends on understanding the main difference between the service of sacrifice and that of the incense offering.

The Hebrew word for sacrifice is “Korban”, whose grammatical root means “closeness”. Through a sacrifice a person drews his outer layer of self close to the Holy One, but does not actually attach to Him. In contrast, the word for incense, “Ketoret”, derives from a root which means “binding”. Through the incense offering a person binds to the Holy One from his inner soul; becoming attached to Him. Indeed, this clarifies what occurred when the sons of Aaron presented their incense offering. They drew close to the Holy One and cleaved to Him (“by drawing close to God’s presence”), until their souls left them (“and they passed on”).

This is what’s meant by “...each took his incense pan, set them ablaze, placed incense upon it, and presented an alien flame before God, one which was not commanded of them.”⁴ The sacrificial service is a kind of service which requires a divine command; as a person is still at a stage of being separate from the divine. In contrast, the service of offering incense does not require a divine command; as at this stage the person becomes attached to the Holy One and automatically senses His will, without needing a command.

It’s possible to suggest that the source for this explanation is found in what Moses stated, “This is what God [meant when He] spoke, ‘I will be sanctified by My intimates.”⁵ The commentator, Rashi, clarifies that Moses meant, “I prophetically knew that the Tabernacle will be sanctified by the intimates of the Omnipresent One...”

Paralleling the two stages of human divine service, sacrifices and incense, there are two levels of God’s revealed presence resting upon the Tabernacle.

1. God’s presence rests. However, it’s in a way that the revelation of God’s presence and the Tabernacle remain two separate entities.
2. The structure itself is sanctified, such that the Tabernacle is not separate from the holiness. The holiness permeates the essence and body of the Tabernacle’s structure.

These two levels are reflected in the two flames which had emerged from God's revealed presence.

1. “Upon the altar, a flame emerged from God’s presence and consumed the burnt offerings and the fats...”⁶ This statement refers to the first level of God’s presence resting upon the Tabernacle, one which comes through offering of sacrifices.
2. “A flame emerged from God’s presence and consumed them...” ⁷ This statement refers to the second level of God’s presence resting upon the Tabernacle, which came from the incense offerings of Nadav and Avihu (as in “...I will be sanctified by My intimates.”).

In accordance with the above, it’s understood why this topic is uniquely presented in a Torah portion which deals with the Yom Kippur service; which mainly emphasizes offering the incense before the ark in the holy of holies. As this service parallels the binding of each Jew’s inner soul and its union with the Holy One.

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1 See “Otzer Likkutei Sichot”, volume 2, page 166

2 Leviticus 16:1

3 Ibid 10:1

4 Ibid 10:1

5 Ibid 10:3

6 Ibid 9:24

7 Ibid 10:2